If you’re a bookworm, and I know many of my readers are, you might be interested in this review. Ziffit is an app I hadn’t heard about until recently but it’s fast becoming one of my favourites. It’s a way to clear out your old books, CDs, DVDs, games etc. and make money at the same time. You can get it from your phone’s app store for free. It’s top left in the picture below. (Disclaimer: I have not been paid to write this post, nor have I received any free gifts as compensation. It is based on my own personal experience)
Ziffit came to my attention because it was advertised during the commercial break of Good Morning Britain. It’s a really simple idea. You use your smartphone to scan the barcodes of books, CDs, games and DVDs and if these items are in demand, or if they don’t have any copies of this already in stock, they’ll give you a small amount of money for them. The first thing I did was download the app to have a look around.
It’s really easy to navigate and the best thing is, you can try before you sign up for an account. I started scanning lots of books to see what kind of money I could make. The average amount for each book they accepted was around £0.45 so that’s pretty good, considering I would just have donated these books to charity anyway.
I tried a couple of DVDs and CDs but apart from the copy of Bhaji on the Beach that I bought for my Open Uni course and never watched, and a couple of exercise DVDs that I’ve had for years, they didn’t want them. They didn’t want any of my CDs.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to scan a few of my own paperbacks. They were only interested in one book and that was Leger: Cat Sleuth. I’m holding onto my mountain of my own paperbacks in the hope that at some point this year, I’ll get the mobile book shop idea off the ground. However, there was one copy of Leger: Cat Sleuth I really wanted to offload. I had gifted it to my former osteopath. He read it and gave it back. That book sat on my bookcase for years, taunting me, telling me that nobody wants my books, even when they’re given them for free – because depression will do that to you. Ziffit were willing to pay me 30p to get rid of that awful visual reminder of my imposter syndrome so I took it.
There were some really good quality, recently released books that they didn’t take. I tried another app, We Buy Books, and they were willing to take some of the ones that Ziffit don’t accept. However, they offer pennies for them. I’ve had about ten books accepted, in principle, by We Buy Books but I haven’t bothered to complete the transaction because I’m only making around £1.50 in total. It’s just not worth it. Ziffit however, are giving me over £15 for a bundle that would have been thrown away. That’s a trip to Nandos in the bag.
Worth noting this though. I got 8p for a copy of Oliver Twist. After the transaction was completed, my husband tried scanning the same book and was offered 59p for it. Do they offer more for books that have already been added to their collection? Do they offer less for books that are unfamiliar on their system? Do search results affect this? I’d be interested to know and I’ll be asking Ziffit for an explanation before I update this post next week.
We Buy Books did however, want some music. Bizarrely, the only two CDs they wanted were PJ & Duncan’s 1994 release, Psyche (don’t judge, I was 14 at the time and subscribed to Britannia music – I had to buy a CD every month) and my copy of Patent Pending’s Other People’s Greatest Hits.
Interestingly, the most valuable book, according to Ziffit, was my Open Uni Creative Writing workbook. It’s worth £4.50. However, I’m still using it and it’s annotated to the MAX so I doubt I’d get any money for it in the end.
My worry was this: I would have to pay more to send them the items than I would make. That’s a valid concern. I mean, books are heavy. When I completed the trade, they asked me to box them up and take them to a local convenience store, where a courier will pick them up. They emailed me a label and then after approval, I’ll find out which books they want and which they don’t. At that point, I’ll update this blog post to let you know if they really do pay out – which is the most important issue. I just wanted to share today because it’s worth letting my readers know that this app exists!
UPDATE: They accepted all the books I sent and the payment was in my account within a week.
If you use my referral code, you can get an extra £5 on your first trade over £10. You’ll also be given your own referral code to give to friends! The code is JZRP1NJXW. I also receive £5 for every 10 friends who sign up and complete a trade.
While we’re here though, do you know of any other apps where I can make money from spring cleaning? Let me know in the comment box below.
Disclaimer: I am not an affiliate of Ziffit. I tried to sign up for their affiliate scheme but their sign up site isn’t secure so I wouldn’t recommend that anyone else try either until they resolve this. I have received no money from Ziffit for this review. However, if you use my sign- up code, I receive £5 for every 10 referrals made. You can earn this too if you sign up and request a unique referral code.
Easy and Smooth
I have collected books for years. I decided to sell some to the on-line book buyers. I sent books to 5 different buyers. Ziffit was by far the easiest to deal with. I sent them 3 orders of books and they have processed them all and paid me for 1 so far in about 2 weeks. Others buyers which I won’t say names have not even checked my orders in yet. I will use these guys as my first choice. Very professional and kept me in the loop the entire way. Thanks much.